AIBU to think Boden's models are too thin!

[trippingup]

Just that really... I've made a complaint about this image. It was served to me as a Facebook advert and it just really got to me.

www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/womens-dresses/smart-day-dresses/j0141-pnk/womens-sweet-william-harley-textured-dress

You'd pass out if saw how scrawny my wrists were!

PS. The rest of me is a size 10-12.

I thought exactly the same op when I saw the catalogue they sent me this week and I have never noticed the models are particularly skinny before. The example photo you show isn't one that stood out to me tbh but there was another model that looked unhealthily skinny.

Btw I am a small size 8 myself so nothing to do with a distorted image of weight and I do find that it is more acceptable to comment negatively on slim people than overweight which I have been at the receiving end of myself.

She is not too slim.

I am about her size and know other women who are... are we too slim as well??

I think the models are too YOUNG.. Size, meh..

Few women in their early 20s shop in Boden - why can't they use women in their 30s?

The meale models are much older.

I feel its a bit of a borderline one that. If everyone in the catalogue is that slim then yes I think it would be pushing a body image that wouldn't be attainable by all. If its just one image then, no she looks fine.

Her height to waist ratio is about 7:1....if you want to find some really troubling body images being thrown at children then head over to Disney princesses....where Elsa clocks in at 10:1.

W0rriedMum I wouldn't shop in Boden if they paid me for the clothes. It's too naice and stately homes to my taste. I'd feel like I have to start talking with a posh accent to rival Prince Charles or a BBC commentator from 50 years ago and only nod benevolently at the mob around me.

Also there is a big difference between criticising a woman for her appearance and indicating that building an entire catalogue out of images of women who are at one extreme of the spectrum might be damaging to the MH of people reading it (especially teenagers).

Any woman who feels healthy and happy is the 'right' size. That doesn't mean all adverts should contain size 6 models, or for that matter size 16 models.

OP is criticising the advert, not the person.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to think that the model was very thin. However, I think it is irrelevant that she may or may not have a normal bmi or may or may not be a healthy weight. The point to me is that I would be willing to bet she represents a vanishingly small number of Boden customers. I have always thought it was was very odd that they don't include a greater variety of models, thin, medium, fat....to give customers more idea about how things will look. Their silly aspirational images have always seemed cringeworthy to me and totally out of sync with their target market.

You made a complaint about the image of a perfectly healthy looking woman, because 'your new year diet hasn't started yet'?

Do you seriously have nothing better to do OP?

I found Karina dresses via Instagram - they only make dresses and skirts, and the photos used are of a really wide variety of 'real people' models : tall, short, slender, curvy, pregnant, long legs, long waist, younger, older, a genuine range. It's very refreshing. Even though they're in the US I've ordered several dresses that have fitted just fine, because I already know pretty much what it's going to look like on me.

I would love it if Boden - or another mainstream clothing line - would use some of the 7 or 8 detail photos they currently have of each item on their website to show it on different body types. Stand by the design, Johnnie! If you're so insistent that this 'suits everyone', then let's see it.

I've just seen the image of the model with the bag now and I agree with you OP that she is very thin. She's probably not underweight though.
It would only be an issue IMO if all the models featured were that thin.

She isn’t too thin but it would be handy to see how the dress would look on a bigger figure

I didn't think she looked too thin, very slim and quite tall yes.

I am edging into a 14 after overdoing it at christmas and I am definitely overweight.

Oh god please stop body shaming her, she’s gorgeous! And clearly very healthy. Unfortunatly as over 50% of adults in this country are now over weight it’s now seen as normal and healthy to be a bit over weight (like a size 14/16).

I think the first image you posted is photoshopped giving her a smaller waist.
The 2nd image of the same dress looks quite normal.

tbh that dress would look absolutely shit on anyone that wasnt as thin and tall as her. Its bad enough on her as it is

I don't think that model looks abnormally slim, although you will see plenty very undersized women in fashion photography and on the catwalk. Boden used to use a wider range of models, I think? perhaps I'm misremembering. Airbrushing is responsible for a lot of disappointment and self-criticism I think - the Matches website, for example, seems to have a problem with women's elbows which are always rendered smooth as billiard balls. Maybe those models have no joints in their arms?

As for 'skinny-shaming' - of course, it's not right to make personal comments and criticise people for their shape. But I don't think the situation is symmetrical, tbh. No-one is suggesting, for example, that thin people should be deprived of health services, or have to pay for them. I doubt very much that a model has been airbrushed to make her look fatter, ever. Skinny is seen (at least in wealthy Western nations) as aspirational and attractive, whereas fat is not. I think if the day comes when images are adjusted to make women look heavier, then we can talk about parity of esteem. Don't think we're there.

She looks as if she has a figure like Kate Middleton. So, on the slim side of normal.

(I am on the fat side of normal)

she looks ok to me. even if she was underweight I'm not sure a thread body shaming her is useful.

YABU

are people trying to bodyshame slim built now?

Looks like a very tall model. She might not be super thin but just looks thinner than she is due to height. Hard to tell in that dress and those angle, but I wouldn't be worried

I'm on their customer panel and have often told them that their models are too thin, I have also suggested that they use a range of model sizes,all fallen on deaf ears

"Bodyshaming", what bollocks.

It would only be bodyshaming if companies used a models in a range of shapes and sizes to promote their clothes, and then one particular body shape was singled out. This doesn't happen.

I don't only want to see what a size 8 model looks like in a dress, because that doesn't reflect what it will look like on me. There should be a range and there isn't. That's the issue, not thin models per se.

Op, I think that wanting to see larger sized models, 12/14 is not the same as saying the woman in the image is too thin and to the extent you complain about it and it gets to you so much. I was expecting to see the heroin chic of old.

Models tend to be slim typically and as long as they are not underweight I've no issue with that personally. I've no real desire to see clothes on a size 14 model to be honest. Or any other specific size. Because people come in a range of sizes. That particular dress sells from a size 6- 22. It's a huge range. I've no issue with it being on a side 8-10 model.

The woman in the image looks fine, typical catalogue model.

Backing vocals. Yes thanks,,doh!